Planet E561
by KE12
Summary: After Teor's shuttle crash lands she awakens on a hostile alien world, in order to survive she befriends a friendly native and attempts to find a way back home. Suitable for all ages, Bioware owns all.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, thanks for clicking on this story, it's been a while since I've written anything that isn't a technical report so this story is going to be a little rusty to say the least. Anyway enough of my blabbering. (If you want to know how to pronounce the main characters name think 'teeaww')

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Teor awoke and sat up immediately as soon she could make a conscious thought, however once her upper body was vertical she immediately regretted her decision as a throbbing headache made its presence known and an unrelenting searing pain snaked its way across her upper body, the two different pains combined sent her crashing back down onto the bed that she awoke upon. When her headache subsided a little a few seconds later she attempted to search her memories in an effort to remember how she got into the situation that she was currently in, as she searched her memories her face slowly started to drain of the little colour it had, she could remember a burning shuttle falling to some planet, a few more seconds of searching allowed Teor to recognise the planet as the one she was currently studying for her degree and that's when the true horror of her situation hit her, this planet wasn't friendly in the least, in her initial horror her brain searched out for something to cling to, and the bed was her brains handle, if she truly landed on that planet she would not be on a bed right? Maybe it was all a bad dream and she only had a hell of a night out, hopefully. As she searched her memories she was unaware of an animal that was approaching her bedside at a high velocity, by the time she eventually heard the animal and turned to see what was approaching there was a Varren sized beast jumping up on the bed, out of pure fear Teor froze in her laid down position and could only watch what was about to happen, however she was shocked when it came to a halt by her side, lay down and shut its eyes. After staring at the seemingly tamed beast curled upto her for a short while she became aware of her surroundings. As she scanned the room she was situated in her heart beat raised tenfold and then her brain recognised the thing that was curled upto her, this caused the girl to nearly vomit, the beast, it was an E561 animal, something the natives kept as pets, her only logical conclusion was she was infact on E561.

Over 5 minutes passed before she built up the courage to move, retracting her arms from their tensed position at her sides she gently pushed herself up, with each cm her body raised from the bed her aches and pains only seemed to grow. When she came to a halt with her back against the head rest of the bed she was nearly ready to cry from the pain however right now was not the time to be weak. After giving a short break to catch her breath she turned her body slightly and attempted to take her legs with it but as she did so the beast next to her opened its eyes and stood back up, the girl froze again however this time she shut her eyes, as it approached she could smell its breath, if she had to describe it she would say it smelt of rotten meat, her heart beat raised to another level she thought was impossible to reach when she felt a warm soft and wet thing trail across her face at an agonisingly slow speed, this was it, the beast was tasting her for consumption, she was sure of it. After a few more licks of her skin the animal jumped off the bed and onto the floor while taking a pillow with it and made an incredibly quick exit through a hole in the door that Teor could only presume led to the rest of the building she was in.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm her heightened nerves Teor gently sat at the edge of the bed, this was when she became aware of a large bandage wrapped around her leg and the burning pain that was beneath it, attempting to ignore it the best she could Teor stepped off of the bed and looked around the room a little more, she found a uniform folded up on a chair next to the bed that she was sleeping on, from the fact that it had text she could read written down the sleeve she assumed it must have been what she was wearing before the person who's building she was in took her in. Looking around a little more Teor found a sink with flowing water, after taking a quick sniff of the water she cupped her hands and collected some before greedily drinking the substance, when she satisfied her thirst she cupped her hand once more and rubbed her face with the cold water. Once she felt slightly refreshed Teor started exploring the room a little more, it did not take her very long to find a mirror laying upside down on a bedside table, as she re-inverted it she was forced to drop the mirror and run to the sink and empty her guts. Raising a shaking hand once she had the capacity to do so she reluctantly felt her upper left cress, the mirror was true, she had lost over an inch and a half. After shuddering at the thought of missing a cress Teor quickly pulled her clothes on then opened the door to reveal the rest of the building, after exploring enough to find the front door the girl opened it with haste, what she found on the outside chilled her to the bone. Outside there was a heavy blizzard, the snow was already at least a foot deep and it looked like it would get another ten before the storm was ready to subside, as she studied the planet for her degree she knew that even the natives could not survive for long with out specialist equipment in this storm so as she was an Asari from a lush warm world she would be doomed. As her brain ran though her current situation she made a snap decision, whoever took her in had tended to her wounds and give her the ability to escape, the likely hood is they weren't wanting to cause her harm. After taking another deep breath Teor slowly closed the door and turned around, as she was going to stay in the building she made another snap decision to investigate the building to know her surroundings a little better. The first room she investigated was the room connected to the front door, it was a small and what could be described as cosy room, there was a log fire quietly crackling away in the corner of the room, a surprisingly large and soft sofa along the far side of the room and a large black thin rectangle based cuboid object situated opposite the sofa, other than these objects there was nothing of much more interest in the room. Moving on Teor came across what she could only assume was a kitchen, there was a sink, pots and pans. knives, some large white thing that was filled with food that right now did not look very appetising and plates next to some strange 3 pronged sticks, the only other room on the ground floor was what she guessed was the toilet and primitive essentials. Moving back upstairs she went into the first room she came across and immediately regretted her decision to explore that room, the second she opened the door and walked in she came across the varren sized animal ontop of another bed tearing the pillow it stole apart with extreme determination, when she walked in the animal looked at her and then seemed to up its efforts, shuddering Teor quickly left the room. The next room she entered was relatively small, Teor had a feeling it was very rarely used or ventured into as there was a large build up of dust on many of the objects and the room was incredibly cold. Taking a few more steps into the room she came across some small pictures, on them there were images of soldiers of some sorts, by looking across the photos available she guessed that the one who took her in was a female probably in the low 100s. The next item she picked up was a strange purple piece of material connected to some decorative metal, as it was in a protective box Teor assumed it was of some importance to the owner and gently placed it back. The only other thing in the room was a large metal cupboard on the wall however it was securely locked and without the key she couldn't open it without permanently damaging the case. Just as Teor left the room she heard the front door open and then soon after a cold gust of wind make its way past her, Teor felt a large lump rise in her throat as she debated about what to do but before she could make a decision she heard the native approach and make it's way up the stairs.

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Hope you guys liked it, if not oh well, suppose you wont be reading this... Anyhow I may follow this up depending on the time I have available (Which unfortunately isn't much lately). Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, thanks for getting to chapter two! Okay guys I'm not even going to deny it, I struggled to write this for reasons that may become obvious, but I've given it my best shot so hope you enjoy it.

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3 weeks earlier.

Teor sat twiddling her thumbs as she awaited for the supervisor that would keep a close eye on her work to meet her at the air lock of the observatory station, she twiddled her thumbs out of pure nerves and impatience, she had fought hard for this position over the last five years of her life and she was not going to mess everything up right now by making a fool out of herself. In her own nervousness she did not notice her supervisor approach her side, when the supervision said her name she literally jumped off her seat in one act and bowed her head in an act of respect. Once the supervisor returned the gesture she got down to buisness. "Mrs Am'Ber its a pleasure to meet once again."

Teor heard the words but couldn't think as quickly as she could speak. "No, ye... I mean the pleasure is all mine."

The far older supervisor smiled at the young student shaking before her. "Teor, do you mind if I call you that?"

Teor quickly blinked her eyes once before speaking again. "Yes."

This caused the older Asari to smile again as she remembered her own days as a nervous student starting a new job. "Great, then call me Charm." Charm looked at her omni tool incredibly briefly before looking back at Teor. "You have arrived a good half hour early, so we have half an hour to kill. Now we could jump straight in or we could go to the cafeteria, talk about something of great interest right now on E561 and possibly try something called hot cocalat. I'm sure you will love it, in fact nearly every one on the station has a sweet tooth for it."

Teors eyes moved around as if she was looking for an answer in her mind, in truth she was trying to work out if this was one last test to check her desire to actually work. After a small while Teor spoke rather quietly "Sounds good." Charm laughed slightly at the nervous heap infront of her before guiding her to the cafeteria.

/.../

"So the war is ending?"

Charm blinked as she finished the last of the cocalat in her cup, when she finished she wiped her mouth with a hanky chief before speaking. "Yes, this war is virtually over, there hasn't been a single hostile act in 36 hours now. But the beautiful thing is this war was very similar to the War of Unification our people suffered 2 and a half millennium back, what follows next could be... well... look at what the WOU did for us."

Teor blinked once more before looking down at the mug in her hands. "Can I ask, why have I never heard of this stuff before?"

Charm laughed again. "Knew it! nobody has not wanted another cup after they try it. Now to answer your question, taking items for non research purposes off E561 is strictly prohibited... And what you just did was purely research understood?"

If Charm ever saw a face of shock, the one looking at her right now was a fine definition of it. "This stuff's from...?"

"Yep."

* * *

Present.

Before the native reached an eye level where she could see Teor the beast in the first bedroom shot out of the hole at the bottom of the door and ran down the stairs, what followed next would have been comical to the Asari if she was not in her current situation.

Once the animal past over the top of the stairs there was a very short break before a heavy thump was heard followed very swiftly by a loud groan, next the native seemed to walk back down the stairs a little quicker than it went up the stairs, when it was at the bottom Teor heard the native speak for the first time. "Oi ya little bugger, give it back!" After a short time of silence there was another loud thump and some loud snarling sounds made. Teor didn't know what to do, whether to go down and confront the native or to retreat to the room that she awoken in. Would the Native be angry she had looked around the house, would it threaten her, would it set the thing against her, would she be met with open arms, she simply did not know.

After a few deep breaths she slowly made her way down the stairs and followed the snarling and heavy breathing noises until she found her self in the main living area, what she found was far from what she was expecting, the Native was on the ground wrestling the beast for the pillow it stole from her bed, the wrestling between the two was so intense the native didn't know she was in the room with her until she stepped upon what seemed to be the only floorboard in the entire house to creeck. When the Native turned to face the new noise, Teor could see the colour drain from its face, other than the snarling released by the beast everything came to a hault, after what seemed like an eternity the native released the beast and slowly stood up, as the Native stood the 4 legged beast took its well fought for prize and leapt on the sofa before continuing its reign of terror upon it.

When the Native was fully stood Teor could only stare, the native was bigger than she imagined and towered over her own frame by a good half foot if not more. It was a further unknown time frame before the native spoke. "Err hey?". Teor could only look helplessly at the Human, she knew nothing of their many language's, after a while of no response the Native spoke again. "Hell who was I kidding thinking you'd understand. Christ your probably as scared as me." Teor only blinked as she attempted to find her voice, what she was going to say she didn't know she only wanted to reply to the Native.

When she found her voice she quietly replied with the only Native word she knew. "Cocalat?"

The Native cocked its head before squinting slightly. "Cocalat?"

Teor could only geuss the Native was confused so she progressed as if she was, but she had no idea of what to do other than maybe demonstrate what it was, so cupping her hands again she raised them to her mouth before speaking again. "Cocalat?"

The Native seemed to look as if a light bulb was light in her brain. "Ah! Coca cola?"

Teor assumed that as the word sounded very similar they were on the same wavelength, however Teor now didn't know how to tell the Native it was right, the only gestures she knew were Asari gestures and simply saying 'yes' would be a waste of time. After thinking she give her enthusiastic response. "Coca Cola!"

The native stuck 1 finger up as if signalling a quantity and walked with what looked like a severe limp into the kitchen and returned multiple seconds later with a see-through glass and some dark liquid inside, just from looking at it Teor knew that it was not what she called Cocalat but it no longer mattered, the initial confrontation was made. Teor graciously took the glass handed to her and raised the shaking glass in order to give the content inside a quick sniff, if she had to describe the smell she would of said it smelt a little like a Traditional Asari bonding cake. As she sniffed the drink the Native looked suspiciously at Teor, Teor decided that this was probably because of how she was acting to the liquid the Native seemed so sure she was after, Teor lowered the bottle without taking a sip and pointed at the bottle. "Coca... cola?"

The Native nodded its head vigorously. "Coca Cola."

Teor squinted slightly and looked back at the bottle, she did not want to spend the next however long trying to get the drink she talked about. Taking a deep breath she looked back at the Native and tried a different approach, with the initial ice between the two broken she felt more and more confident that she was indeed safe. Raising her free hand to her chest Teor spoke once more. "Teor" she then extended a hand out to the native. The native seemed to understand as she also raised a hand to her chest and spoke. "Pebble." then she moved her hands in a way to gesture her entire body. "Human." next she pointed to the floor. "Earth."

Teor knew the name of the Native species and the planet that she was currently on, so geussed that she was saying that she was a human and that they were on Earth, so in order to stay on topic Teor replied with a little information on her self, using the same gestures Pebble had to signify the same things, however instead of pointing to the ground she pointed to the roof. "Asari, Thessia." Pebble nodded before raising a hand to her chin and stroked the under side of her jaw. Just as it looked like Teor was going to speak again both of them were distracted by a large ripping noise, turning around to face the origin of the noise they saw that the beast had successfully ripped the pillow to expose its insides. Pebble noticed out the side of her eye the Asari shudder when she watched the dog and decided that a shudder was a shudder weather you were Alien, Human or whatever else the universe had to offer in sentient form.

Turning around Pebble gestured to the Alien in the room to follow her with entire arm repeatedly going from a horizontal outstretched position to her chest and walking backwards towards the kitchen, taking the hint Teor quickly followed the human without question, when they got into the kitchen and Teor could no longer see the beast she was thankful the human seemed to understand her fear, however telling the human she was thankful would only be a waste of time. As Teor watched the human walk to a bench and rest some of her body weight on it a small thought occurred to her. During melds thoughts could be shared and understood despite any language barriers, however she then remembered a small unwritten rule all Asari obeyed, and that was never to force a meld on any one no matter how dire the situation. To get this human who would have no idea what so ever of what she was doing to peacefuly accepted meld would be almost impossible. Taking a deep breath she pushed the idea out of her head and attempted to think of something else to do or say. After a while of silence Pebble broke the silence. "Teor, Asari, Thesia." to help the Asari understand she made a gesutre to help her understand what she was talking about.

Teor blinked her eyes before replying with her own gesutres. "Pebble, Human, Earth."

Pebble nodded her head once more then pointed to the living room before making some gestures as she spoke. "Russel, Dog, Earth." she then got onto her feet and walked over to the sink before turning on the tap. "Water." turning it off she picked a large pint glass out from a cupboard near the sink. "Glass." She then filled the glass with water. "Glass of water."

Teor slowly approached and tapped the outer glass that was still in Pebbles hand. "Glahs." she then pointed from above to signify the water. "Water." and then with two hands she gesuted to the entire thing. "Glahs of water."

As Teor expected the human to nod its head again, however she pointed at the cup again and spoke. "Glass" as she spoke she put alot of emphasis on the ss in glass.

Teor guessed she pronounced the word wrong and attempted it again while putting emphasis on the ss. "Glas"

Pebble deemed it was close enough so nodded her head. After putting the glass of water down and gesturing to Teor to take it she went to the fridge and pulled a whole load of food out and placed them on the table in a line, next she pointed to each one as she spoke. "Meat. Salad. Chocolate..."

Pebble was cut off as Teor recognised the text written on the chocolate bar and spoke. "Cocolat!"

Teor squinted at the chocolate before picking it up, half unwrapping it, gesturing chomping on it and handing it to the Asari while speaking again. "Chocolate."

"Shockalate?"

Instead of the usual nodd Pebble shook her head. "Ch, Ch, chocolate."

"Sh.. schhh.. ch... chocolate." After the human nodded enthusiastically Pebble took the bar and took a quick sniff, sure enough despite it being a solid and not a liquid it smelt like Cocolat. Taking a deep breath she took a large chomp off the bar, as she expected it did indeed taste of cocolat but in solid form, in fact it tasted a mile or two better than the cocolat drink she was used to. As she eat Pebble went back to the table with food and spoke once she had the Asari's attention again. "Meat. Salad. Milk. Bread. Fruit."

Teor attempted to perform the quick nod the Human had done so many times, when she had done so she was surprised when a quick blink was returned in her direction. After racking her brains and swallowing the chocolate in her mouth she pointed to the glass of water on the table. "Glas of water. Meat. S-Salad. Ch..Chocolate. Mi... Mil... Milk. Bread. Fro..." Before teor could finish the word there was three loud heavy thumps on the door and a loud male could be heard shouting. Teor was no expert on humans yet but she saw the fear that grew in the face of the human female stood before her.

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Hey, One thing before I sign this chapter off. There is something I found when doing research for this chapter that I believe could be of great interest to some of you guys. There is a french guy called Jean-Pierre Dutilleux who went searching for and made contact with a Tribe that had never met a 'modern' human or a white man at that, it was fascinating to watch how the tribe reacted to him and his modern technology (there is a 40 min documentary on YouTube, if your interested I'm sure you could find it by searching for that guys name). I suppose if an alien capable of space travel crash landed and interacted with us today it would be a very similar situation.

Anyhow, Thanks for reading. And sorry if I broke any rules mentioning that guy on this page!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for getting to chap 3!

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"...Mayday My vessel is crash..." Unintelligible. "...if anyone hears this, please..." the distress call was muted after white noise started to permanently overcome the voice of the person in distress, leaving the room of three in silence.

"Sitner, why does this require my attention?" The Turian Councillor asking the question was looking rather tired and as this was his last meeting of the day he was more than ready to make a hasty retreat back to his place residence.

The Asari standing before the Councillors turned to face the Turian before replying. "Planet 5E61 is in a level 5 restricted area, council authority is needed before any action is allowed to be taken."

The Turian lazily pulled a limp hand up from his side to massage his heavy eyes. "Remind me, what is a level 5 restricted area?"

It was the Asari councillor that answered the Turian "A system with a mass relay and a native species that are within 200 years of discovering the Relays." After giving the Turian the answer it wanted the Asari turned back to Sitner "Now my question is Sitner, what was Ni'tam and her team doing landing on this planet in the first place?"

Sitam fiddled with her fingers while she thought about the question, when she was ready to answer she unfolded her fingers. "5E61 is the most advanced and arguably the most interesting pre-relay species we know of, we have been studying them for over 22 years now. However because of their current technological state we are in the process of removing any planet side evidence of our observations, Ni'tam and her team were in the process of removing this evidence."

"Alright, you have permission to carry out a rescue." Just as the Turian was about to stand and leave the room Sitam spoke again.

"It's not that simple."

The Turian flapped his mandibles before making himself comfortable again. "How so?"

Sitam unconscious started to fiddle with her fingers again before she spoke. "After encountering engine failure they crash landed no more than 2 miles from a residential area."

The Asari Councillor let out a deep breath as she leaned forward in her chair. "Then we will send an extraction team."

Sitam clenched her fists slightly before speaking again. "Again its not that simple. E561 has just finished a war equal to that of our WOU, if your team were to make any hostile acts it could re-ignite the entire thing. Millions of lives could be lost."

There was a half laugh from the Turian Councillor. "Please, which advanced civilisation believed abduction and alien stories before first contact?"

"Once more its not that simple."

/.../

There was yet another 3 knocks before the voice could be heard again. "Pebble I know you're in there!" Teor looked once more at the human stood infront of her, she was half shocked when she saw her head bowed facing the floor, just as she was about to speak she remembered that to humans this act probably did not carry the seam meaning as it did to Asari. After another short while the human looked up to the Asari and placed her hand over her own mouth to signify silence, then she swiftly paced two hands vertically facing her. When she was sure the Asari understood she took a deep breath and approached the front door that was located near the stairs. Just as she arrived at the front door there was another series of impatient knocks made. "Pebble..."

Pebble released a ragged breath before quickly opening the door. "What!?" Despite Teor being Asari she could hear the venom in her voice as she spoke.

The man in the doorway approached and placed a hand in the door frame before smiling. "Thats a hell of a way to address your C.O"

Pebble scowled under her breath. "Dom, you are no longer my CO and never again will you be my CO, now would you please tell me what you are doing at my door?."

Dom grinned before taking another half step forward. "The team was ordered into this area earlier today, when I found out you were in town I just wanted to... check up on you."

Pebble knew the Army would be dispatched to the area once the shuttle was found however she never imagined in this weather it would be discovered so soon or even that her old company was going to be the ones to turn up. "What you here for? The wars over and the front line was 400 miles away."

"You know the rules Pebs, we follow orders and dont ask questions. Something you should know..." Before he finished his sentence he looked down to her left leg. "...with great intimacy." when he finished speaking he quickly placed a finger on his left ear, after a couple of seconds he smiled again and lowered his hand "Well it appears my time has been cut short." After speaking he removed his arm from the door and walked slowly backwards, just before he was off the property he spoke one last time. "I'll be seeing you around." With those words spoke he turned around fully and disappeared into the storm. When Pebble was sure he was gone she closed and then locked the door before retreating back into the living room, when she entered she noticed Russell giving her an extensive look.

Approaching the dog she gently scratched its ears before speaking. "Yeah I know."

/.../

Returning to the Kitchen Pebble found Teor half cowering in the far corner of the kitchen while looking slightly scared however upon her reappearance she seemed to calm down slightly and re-approach the table with the food on top. "Alrighty where were we?" To this comment the asari frowned slightly before pointing to the apples on the table. "Froot?"

"Uh yeah." Pebble approached and then picked the apple up. "Uit, Fruit." after speaking she made eating gestures and then reached out to Teor with the small red apple. Teor understanding the gesture reached out for the fruit, just as she picked the apple up her skin made contact with the humans for the first time and an unexpected exchange of emotions was made. Immediately after the exchange was made Pebble retracted her hand and cradled it before giving the Asari a very curious look. Teor in the meantime dropped the apple and give the human a startled look before her mind made sense of Pebbles emotions, Teor could sense a mixture of great curiosity and fear. After an unknown time of starring at one another Teor gulped before slowly extending her hand once more, the human seemed to hesitate before slowly extending a slightly shaking hand to Teors, the two hands stopped millimetres before they would touch. When Teor saw Pebble make the final movement a few seconds later she also reacted and moved her hand ever so slightly forward and made the final contact again, as she touched the human another wave of emotions was exchanged between the two, after a short time to decipher the emotions Teor decided that Pebbles curiosity and reaction to the short exchange of emotions was appropriate for her to initiate a meld.

The next thing Pebble knew she was mentally dragged into pitch black, everything around her was dark, as her fear began to grow exponentially the darkness faded and large beach came into focus. When the beach was in focus she came aware of footsteps behind her, quickly turning around she came face to face with the same Asari from her house. "W-whe- what did you do?"

Teor took in a deep breath of air before speaking. "Right now we are still in your kitchen, however mentally you are in my mind."

Pebble took a step back before speaking again. "Wait, now you know English?" After she spoke she noticed a table with two seats form in the corner of her left eye. Before giving a verbal response Teor walked to the table. "Please sit and I will explain all I can." There was a nod from the human before she started to make a slow walk to the table, however after her first full step she looked down to her left knee before raising it and then stretching it. With a newly gained smile on her face she virtually ran to the table and sat down. When she was sited Teor spoke again. "No, your mind is interpreting my thoughts as mine is yours. As you hear me in English I hear you in Galactic."

"Okay, so you don't know English and I'm in your mind?"

Teor nodded. "Yes, when you were curious about our exchange of emotions I decided it was best that I brought you in here. If you wish I can end the meld now however if I do so our communications will be primitive at best."

Pebble scratched her head slightly. "No, if we can understand each other and at the end of the day I can go back into my body I am aright being in here, temporarily."

There was a deep sigh of releif from the Asari. "Thank the Goddess. If you don't mind me asking, when you found me, were there others?"

"Yeah..." Pebble rubbed her jaw before continuing. "I'm sorry but you were the only survivor. When you crash landed I was walking Russell in the woods nearby, thinking a plane went down I went to help the pilot. You can imagine my surprise when I found you stumbling about. After watching you for a short time you collapsed on the floor near the wreckage. Deciding it was safe I moved in, you had no pulse but were breathing, the rest were unfortunately killed in the crash. After getting you back to mine I sanitized your wounds and then a day later you found me fighting my dog."

Pebble could see the Asari fighting back some tears however before her full emotion showed she seemed to suppress it and move on. "Thank you for saving me."

There was a smile form on the humans face. "No problem."

"I don't want to be a burden however my species can't survive for long in the weather outside. Would it be possible for me to stay with you till the storm passes?"

Pebble swallowed before answering. "I'm sorry to say this but if you take even one step out my door any time soon your life is going to take a turn for the worse. The military is probably crawling outside and I assume they are only here because of your shuttle, if they found you I could only guess as to what they would do and I doubt it would be in your best interest."

The Asari seemed to pounder this for a short while before speaking again. "Then what do you suggest I do?"

"Bunker down here for a short while. Then when I can I'll move to a more remote location and we can try to come up with a way to get in touch with your people, actually what's the likely hood of your people coming for you?"

Teor sat back slightly. "Not likely, my people will not risk a direct confrontation with your military and you would do that for me?"

Pebble shrugged at the comment. "Sure."

The Asari eyed the human suspiciously. "Hopefully under your proposed circumstance they will come. But why do this, if we get caught..."

There was yet another shrug from the human. "I have my reasons."

"Then I can't thank you enough."

The human smiled and then released a slight laugh at the Asari's response. "You can thank me by telling your species not to come and invade us."

Unexpectedly for Pebble the Asari released a short laugh also. "You know not all aliens want to invade Earth. When I was observing your planet we would often watch your films, if it involved aliens 9 out of 10 times it included evil aliens invading. Infact the Council actively protects your planet."

Pebble raised an eyebrow to this comment. "'not all aliens?' Just how many different alien species is there? And what Council?"

/.../

Hey, first of all despite what this chapter seemed to hint at I don't intend for this to become a war story. Anyhow thanks for reading this and a special thanks to those who have favorited / followed / reviewed. You guys are legends!


	4. Chapter 4

Well chaps, thanks for getting to chapter 4.

/.../

The Asari spectre had her XO in a head lock on the floor and was slowly losing her grip, however she was determined not to lose the battle. "Come on Gar, Tap!." After a last attempt to break the hold the Turian conceded and tapped his hand on the hard floor beneath him. The spectre secretly allowed herself a small victory smile before releasing her hold on the Turian. Just as she was about to stand back up the ships intercom activated. "Captain, you have Councillor S'Aung on channel 1."

"I'll take it in my office."

There was a short silence before the person behind the intercom spoke again. "The call has been re-routed to your office terminal."

After the voice ended the Asari grabbed a towel that was near by and rubbed the sweat from her face before heading back to her office, when she arrived she flopped into her seat exhausted and answered the call. Before speaking she bowed her head. "Councillor S'Aung its a pleasure as always."

The Councillor returned the bow before speaking. "Reale, report to the Council chambers immediately. We are awaiting on your attendance."

Reale blinked once before responding. "ETA 15 minutes."

/.../

The second Realee entered the council chambers she could hear the councillors arguing passionately between one another. "... I will not allow it."

There was a loud growl before a response was made. "Then you are risking an alien species acquiring technology far beyond their comprehension."

"And you would risk making a pre relay species hostile in any future contact." The Salarian responded quicker than one could take a breath.

After a second of silence a fourth unfamiliar voice was heard. "And you all are forgetting the fact that any hostile action could restart a war on a planet with a native species that have nuclear weapons."

There was another moments pause before the Turian could be heard once again. "And if we do nothing we risk the Natives gaining an Element Zero core which is a hundred times more volatile than any nuclear device."

"Then make contact and ask for our people and technology back. They are no more than 50 years at best from discovering the relay and at the rate they are currently progressing 60 years from utilising the technology."

There was another growl. "We do not make contact with a pre relay species for a Reason Sitam, do I have to remind you of the last uplifted species?" Before any response could be made Reale climbed the final steps and came into view of the Councillors.

/.../

Teor looked down to her hands as she thought about the question, after a while of counting she looked back up to the curious human. "There is 17 known species alike ourselves, however only 8 of them are in our council, the rest are either too hostile, in a unique position which means they can not be in our council or just refused to accept our rules and laws."

Pebble rubbed her chin some more as she thought about the response the alien give her, when she was satisfied her mind had taken in the information she proceeded. "When you say you were observing our planet, what do you mean by observing?"

There was a sigh from the Asari as she thought about the observatory station. "The simplest answer I could give is that we observe you Humans. We want to know what you like to eat, what your favourite films are, anything really that defines Humans."

While continuing to rub the underside of her jaw Pebble asked another question. "Hmm, so what did you find out?"

"I could not say, many things I thought were true I now believe to be false. For example I would of believed you would of handed me straight over to your authorities yet here I am now in you care."

"So no evil intentions then?"

Teor smiled and shook her head before releasing a slight giggle. "Well, only a few evil schemes to steal some more of that liquid sh shokolate your people make."

Pebble squinted then laughed before speaking. "You mean Hot Chocolate? Hold on, is that the stuff you were asking me for when we first spoke?" The asari released a slight nod. "Ha! The first words spoke to Humanity from an Alien life source was about hot chocolate? HA! It gives a whole new definition to beggar's belief."

"Hey, it was the only human word I knew or could think of at the time! And beggar's belief?"

"Means unbelievable." Pebble continued to laugh occasionally to herself at the thought before speaking once again. "Anyhow if your living with me I'll need to know a few things, such as is there any more freaky stuff like this you can do, is there any requirements you have and what do you eat, drink?"

Teor thought about the question before responding. "Asari don't require that much different to yourselves for survival, however I will need thicker clothes possibly and a cleansing everyday. Food wise Asari are virtually Vegetarians, however if this requires extra effort on your behalf I am more than willing to eat what you can provide."

"All right, that shouldn't be a problem, unless you cleansing requires some special chemicals or something."

Teor squinted at the human. "simple soap should do and a bath or..." as she spoke the table that they were sat at started to lose its structure, seconds later the table vanished and the two women ended off standing opposite one another. "Oh no. We need to make this quick, soon the meld is going to collapse."

"Sorry, I don't understand."

Teor started to speak quicker and quicker. "My brain is getting tired, like a computer when it is underpowered it starts to make mistakes and then eventually shuts down, I'm sorry but I must end the meld or I will soon pass out."

"All right, end it and when I come through I'll grab you some food and then you can go upstairs and get some rest Oh one quick thing, am I going to understand you outside of a meld now?"

"No, it doesn't work like that, no time to explain."

/.../

"So Reale, what do you think of the plan? Is it possible?"

Reale was getting sick of the Councillors arguing, when they eventually came up with a plan she was jumping with joy inside. "Its highly complicated and the risks are mind boggling, however I think it is possible."

The Councillors blinked and give slight gestures to one another before the Asari Councillor spoke. "Excellent, we will give you all the resources you and your team require. However before this mission is given the green light you understand there can be no positive identification of your species and direct hostilities are only permitted under endangerment of life or to prevent the spread of positive identification?"

Reale looked around the Councillors before blinking.

/.../

Well guys, thanks for getting to the end of Chap 4 and another special thanks to the followers / favs and reviewer! If you have anything you want to see in the story give me a message or leave a review and I'll do my best to include it!


	5. Chapter 5

When Pebble became aware that she was once again in her own body she gained a very strong urge to eject any content in her stomach, without even looking or making any indication to the alien of what she was doing she hobbled as quickly as she could to the toilet and allowed nature to take its course. When she was sure she was done she rinsed her mouth out and then slowly made her way back to the kitchen, however before she entered the kitchen she ordered Russell upstairs.

After the dog obeyed her commands she entered the kitchen to find the Asari rubbing her eyes while heavily slouched in a chair next to the table. Pebble lightly tapped the Asari on the elbow before gesturing to the girl to follow her, when the Asari understood Pebble lead her to the sofa that the dog had claimed earlier and sat her down, next she picked up a black rectangle shaped object and pointed it at the much larger black rectangle in the opposite corner of the room. The Asari watched with great curiosity despite her tiredness as a picture appeared on the screen, next the human seemed to flick through a few channels till a nature show of some sort appeared, before the human left the room she handed over the remote and demonstrated the volume and channel buttons. When the Asari picked up how to work the television the human retreated back to the kitchen and approached her tin cupboard, after she opened the cupboard door she took a step back and crossed one arm while stroking the underside of her chin with the other. "Vegitarian huh?" After picking a few different tins out and then putting them back she settled on a broth. While the thick liquid started to cook on the hob the human pulled out a baton, cut it in two then quartered it before proceeding to butter half of the sliced bread. When the soup was eventually ready she poured into two bowls and carried it into the room, when she laid her eyes on the Asari she could tell it was knocking on the door of dreams.

When the human had finished her food she looked over to the Asari, the alien had managed to eat about half of what was placed in front of her before her fight for consciousness was lost. After returning the food to the kitchen the Human grabbed the blanket from the bed the Asari woke upon and lightly placed it over her. When she was satisfied the Asari was not awoken the human called to Russell and put it on lead before taking it for a walk, in her military career Pebble knew that intelligence could win a battle, and if they planned on staying alive she needed to know just what type of military presence was currently in her town. Once they returned the Human noticed the Asari was still asleep on the sofa, with a hundred plus thoughts running through her mind she allowed Russell of his lead, as soon as he was free he jumped onto the sofa and snuggled up to the still unconscious Asari, Pebble could only watch and hope the dog wouldn't awaken or try anything against the Asari. When the dog settled down Pebble allowed the breath she had been storing free and slowly approached the dog, when she was in range she grabed the collar and give the animal a slight tug however its stubborn nature came out, after a few tugs Pebble concluded that the fight to remove the dog would more than likely wake the alien, in order to win the battle for the sofa she would have to play the waiting game. So after carefully pulling a foot rest out from behind the sofa Pebble sat down at the opposite side of the sofa and put her feet up.

/.../

Teor slowly clenched her left fist, as she did so she became aware of a soft wire like substance in her hands, without opening her eyes she slowly relaxed her hand and then re clenched. It was a weird feeling to the Asari and the material had a texture unlike anything she had ever felt before. In her dopey post sleep state she decided to explore slightly more and moved her hand around, slowly she became aware that the material was connected to something warm, a little bit more exploration revealed that the material was also connected to something that moved. As the Asari's brain started to awaken a little more the Asari's hear rate started to rise as she thought about the thing that her hand was touching. Allowing her left eye to open very slightly her worst possible fear was confirmed. The Earth beast, it was laying next to her and she was touching the thing, with lightning reflexes the Asari retracted her hand and opened both eyes to take in her surroundings. The Human, Pebble, to her left and at the end of the sofa appeared to be in a deep sleep, herself was under a thick blanket and the dog was half under with her however she could see its head poking out from under the blanket, it too appeared to be asleep. After a while of very conservative movements Teor released a deep breath, if she was going to live with the human she would have to live with the beast also.

After slowly removing the quilt from herself and the dog she extended a shaking hand out and lightly placed her hand on the dogs hind leg, if she wasn't touching an unknown beast she would of allowed herself to be fascinated with the dogs hair. After a while of simply touching the dog she moved her hand up its leg and onto its back, as she felt the dog flinch, then in a moment of pure terror she saw the dog open its eyes. Teor didn't know what to do, would the dog be angry she touched it? Would it taste her again? She simply did not know. What she did not expect to happen however was for Russel to turn its head and simply look at her, after a while of exchanging eye contact the dog slowly got up and approached Teor, as it did so Teors heart rate raised once again and she could feel her biotics starting to surge beneath her skin. While Teor knew her biotics weren't exactly tuned to perfection she knew enough to put the dog in a stasis, just as she was about to stop to dogs approach it fell down onto its stomach and laid its head on her lap while looking up to her with its large eyes.

/.../

Pebbles eyes shot open as she sat forward and rubbed her left knee, after a few tears and what seemed like an eternity of rubbing the burning pain in her leg eventually subsided to a manageable level. Once the pain subsided Pebble took a few deep breaths as she raised her leg ever so slightly and pulled her trouser leg up to reveal her knee, Teor hearing the rubbing and deep breaths poked her head out from around the kitchen door, what she saw made her grimace. Up Pebbles leg there was 2 angry looking scars, one of them was a large round piece of discoloured flesh above her heavily swollen knee, the other was a large line of a scar on the inside of her calf. With great curiosity the Asari watched as the human pulled a box out from under the sofa she was sat on however the Asari had to look away as the human pulled out what looked like a large needle and push it up against a point on her upper leg. As she looked away she saw Russell approach her position, with its eyes firmly fixed on herself, or more accurately the piece or rope in her hands. Raising her hands to stop the beast getting the rope Teor thought the rope would be safe from the beast, however she did not expect the dog to jump up at her and balance on its hind legs as its front paws rested on her upper chest, in shock the Asari fell backwards through the door into the living room.

Pebble looked up in fear as she heard the commotion burst into her living room, fearing that somebody was raiding her house, but the scene that met her eyes put a smile on her face. The Alien was fighting the dog for one of its favourite toys, how the alien had become so friendly with the dog she could only guess at but from how the two were interacting she didn't care. Just as the Asari won the toy back from the dog Pebble was going to look away, however something caught her eye, so much so the Human had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. The Asari, it was physically glowing in blue light, and the toy, it was floating in the air surrounded by similar blue light. During her military career she had seen many things that people would only believe if they saw, but this was something else entirely. When the Asari was sure the dog was pre-occupied by a toy she was sure it couldn't reach she turned to apologise to the human in anyway she could think of doing so, however the human was simply looking at her as if it saw an alien. Just as the Asari was about to attempt to start her appologising she felt the drain of her biotics increase tenfold, turning around she was shocked and slightly amused to find the dog hanging off the toy mid-air. As she allowed the toy to slowly drop she approached the human and sat down on the sofa next to her, as she approached the human continued to look at the toy and the dog suspended from it until they reached the ground. When there was no more sign of any biotic activity pebble picked up a TV remote and handed it to Teor before gesturing for her to float the device, Teor taking the hint did as requested and floated it just infront of the human, Pebble watched yet again with her mind blown, to her this was stuff that should belong in movies and books, not reality. Extending a hand she tapped the remote and made it spin in the blue light however to demonstrate her control over the biotics Teor made the remote come to a quick halt and forced it to rotate in a plane 90 degrees to the horizontal. With her mouth wide open catching flies Pebble slowly extended her hand once more to the asari with the palm facing upwards, taking another hint Teor lowered the remote and touched palms with the human.

/

"Matriach Am'ber, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Am'ber looked at the younger Asari very carefully, it was not everyday she had a Spectre turn up at her estate. "Please, do come in." The walk to the kitchen was not a short one however the journey there allowed some critical questions to be asked. "So, what business does a Spectre have with myself?"

Reale not wanting to depart with information regarding E561 so readily or in such a situation without sitting down answered with delaying the question mind. "This is not something to discuss while walking, it is best to be sat down."

This reply caused Am'ber to cock a brow as she continued to walk. "I have Matriach T'soni around, will this be an issue?"

"The information I need to inform you of is very sensitive and personnel, however It is not a necessity to talk to you alone."

"Excellent, when we get to the kitchen, would you like anything to eat or drink?"

Reale clenched her fists ever so slightly as she replied. "No Thankyou, I hope for this to be a short meeting."

"Of which you have not specified to topic."

"All in good time Matriach."

/

When they eventually reached the kitchen Reale was unusually grateful for being able to take a seat, while she did not mind walking she did not quite realise how big the Matriarchs estate was. After regaining her composure she looked up to the Matriarchs in front of her, one of which had a young newborn cradled protectively in her arms. "Are you sure you are wanting Matriach T'soni to here, what I have to tell you is very... Disturbing."

Am'ber blinked to T'soni before speaking again. "Benezia and I have been friends for more years than I can remember and she is the wisest person I know."

"Very well, what I am here today for is to talk about your daughter..."

Reale was cut off as Am'ber spoke, fear lacing her voice. "Teor? Is she safe?"

There was a large release of breath before Reale replied. "Are you aware that she is currently on a research mission studying planet E561? And if so are you aware of why she was studying that planet?"

"Yes, she spent many years working for that position."

After Reale blinked she contined. "During a mission to the planets surface Teor's shuttle experienced technical difficulties and crash landed on..."

The Matriach cut her off. "Is she alive?"

Reale stopped momentarily before continuing. "Due to the planets native species we are unable to confirm that, but what I can tell you is that from deciphering the natives communications we know the natives only know about 3 bodies, from the descriptions and images they have used, none of them are Teor." As the news came to light Am'ber started to blink at an unusally high rate as she thought about the situation, in her silence T'soni asked a question. "So why cant we send a team to rescue her? If its a question of resources we can provide anything you need."

"The Native species are like the Turians and have advanced weaponry, not only this but they have the area in lock down and any military action could start a devastating war on the planet." Turning to face Am'ber Reale spoke again. "My Mission from the Council is to track down all the bodies, retrieve them and come home. As Teor is not discovered I am counting on her being alive and hiding. I am here to find out any information that helps me bring Teor back home in one Piece Matriach."

/.../

Well chaps thats another out here on the world wide web. Sorry about the time taken for the update, to cut a long story short I had this beast of a report to write that just wouldn't go away, then due to it taking a while works got back logged and yeah, its been hell. Anyhow work is going to be a little hectic again over the next week or two so sorry again if your after regular updates, but in order to get food on the table one must work.


	6. Chapter 6

Right chaps, I tried incorporating a different technique for starting speech, it only comes up every now and again in this chapter as I was experimenting but hey, if you see any spots where your like huh? its probably my new method failing ha. (Totally my bad)

Anyhow I managed to steel some sneaky time from work to get this one out here... i was sick of looking over schematic diagrams and lines and lines of coding so this was a nice break. Oh and my work should start to die down again soon so hopefully I can dedicate more time to this, but I can't promise how long it will die out for.

Okay then guys, now that's cleared, enjoy.

/.../

Photax looked back up to the Spectre standing in front of him and then back down to the photo before speaking. "Impossible..." after a very short silence he spoke again while rapidly tapping the datapad. "Firstly whats this material? To get it right I would need data..." Reale cut him off by sliding another datapad in front of him, after a short inspection the Salarian spoke once more. "Yes, yes this will do." After scratching his left horn a little he stood up and rounded his table to stand just infront of the Asari. "5 foot 10, 2 grams per centimeter, total 2500 grams required. 6 hours operation, near instant recovery with omni gel. Time for complete manifestation 3-4 days under optimal conditions, material , 1 day synthesis."

Reale blinked to the Salarian before saying. "One last thing, I need to find an Asari."

The Salarian scratched its horn once more as its eyes darted from right to left and then back again. "Crashed element zero core, biotic capabilities not common, close encounter required. Yes, no problem. 2 days part delivery, 1 hour construction. Component price 17K."

Reale clenched her fists.. "How close are we talking."

"Device optimal range 10 meters."

This caused the Asari Spectre to clench her fists for a second time. "Not good enough Photax."

"Secondary contact will be detected, Follow like breadcrumbs."

Reale did her own thinking before she said. "Acceptable, we commence as soon as possible."

The Salarian smiled before walking through a door behind his desk and towards the ships medlab. "Surgery starts now, material requires synthesis."

/-/

Reale woke with a groggy head, as she raised her hands to rub her eyes she nearly had a heart attack however she quickly remembered why she went under the knife. "The council aint paying me enough for this." After speaking she rotated her hand to inspect the Salarians handy work. "This is going to take a long long time to get used to." With a sigh she pushed herself off the bed and got dressed before walking out of the medlab and straight into the canteen, when she emerged into the crowded canteen she saw here crew stop what ever they were doing and simply stare at her. With a roll her of eyes she made her voice heard. "Yes I have pink skin, get used to it!"

/.../

**4 days after shuttle crash**

Teor sat on her bed with her legs crossed, palms facing upwards on her knees, eyes shut and a blue orb floating just infront of her, the human had asked her to stay upstairs until she had called her name, all she knew was that she was going to meet someone to help break down the language barrier. Pebble meanwhile downstairs was in a bit of a mad rush preparing some food. It was another unknown time period to the meditating Asari before she heard a knock at the door and the human caring for her greet some people with a high pitched but cheerful sounding voice, after a short duration of listening Teor concluded that there was another two people in the house, one had a voice similar to Pebble and the other had a deeper ring to it.

/.../

"So, you seemed pretty adamant that we came as soon as possible."

Pebble smiled and nodded at the male sat opposite herself on the kitchen table. "Do I need a reason to see my father once again?"

The old grey haired man released a short laugh before saying. "No, but usually you come down to see us, not the other way round."

"Yeah, I do love the sun, anyway do you have your bricks on you?"

It was the elder woman's turn to laugh at her daughter. "Bricks? Child, you have no idea what a 'brick' is, when I was a child a brick broke the floor, not the other way round."

"Yeah yeah, pass them here and I'll explain." The parents passed Pebble their phones and watched in silence as she removed the batteries from the two devices and hand them back. "You have no idea how much surveillance these things can gather even when turned off, my own unit used phones to collect information more times than I can count."

The old woman sighed before she said. "Okay Pebble, what's this really about?"

"Dad, did you bring your code breaking books along with you?"

The old man squinted at his daughter before crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair. "Yes, I assume you are now going to tell us why you asked me to bring them."

There was a nod from the younger human. "Before I do it, you must know that if the Alliance finds out about what I'm going to tell you, they will hunt you down and you will never see the day of light again."

Pebble's mother released a deep breath through her nose and shook her head. "Pebble, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"I'll explain all in good time, but first what do you know about the military presence here?"

The farther shrugged his shoulders. "Something about routine military exercises, don't believe it though, I've got a funny suspicion that its something else."

Pebble released a deep breath and nodded vigorously. "You could say that. Dad, I know you're going to be fascinated by this but Mother, if you want to know promise not to freak out, I know what you get like with spiders never mind what I'm about to tell and then show you."

The Mother shook her head. "Pebble, before I find out what this is all about, tell me why you are doing what you are doing right now."

Pebble quietly replied. "I once made a promise to the Archers to help someone else out in a similar situation."

The father squinted once more at his daughter. "The wars over, POW's are being released, the person could walk right out the door and straight over no man's land, providing they weren't in a similar shot up state like yourself."

Pebble rested her chin in her hands. "What if its not a human?" To this comment the face of the farther turned white and the mother had a look of deep confusion.

After a very short time the mother spoke. "So is it some sort of codes for something or..."

The father shook his head before finding his tongue. "Is it blue?"

Pebble instantly looked straight up to her father. "How do you know?"

Pebble's father rubbed his highly groomed moustache before he said. "There was some leaked images on the internet a few days ago, but they got suppressed unusually early and called fakes by the Alliance."

"What are you two on about?"

Pebble rubbed the back of her neck before she said. "Mother, I've asked you guys here to help me teach an alien..."

"Pebble, is it here?!" Pebble knew her father would be more than excited at the fact she had an alien living in her spare bedroom, when ever a conspiracy program was on tv about aliens he would tape them then re watch them trying to pick out anything little that he missed in the first viewing.

There was a nod from the younger human before she got up and made a slow hobble to the bottom of the stairs, before she shouted up to Teor she turned back to her parents. "Just... dont freak out kay?"

/.../

After opening her eyes Teors heart skipped a beat till she recognised the soft fluffy beast curled up besides her, with a few very slow actions the Asari managed to push her self off of the bed and stand up with out awakening Russel, when she was stood and looking down to the dog she allowed herself a small smile at the fact that she was so still and calm during meditation the animal could sleep besides her undisturbed. Then with a small sigh she turned towards the bedroom door and made her way down the stairs, as she descended she found herself unusually calm, earlier when she found out she was to meet other humans she nearly vomited but now she was ready for what ever was at the bottom of the stairs.

/.../

Final note,

For the awesome person reviewing, I hope this chapter gives the final clue to the date... if not I believe next chapter should do it for you.

Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Right guys, this chapter went under multiple re-writes, and to be honest I'm still not happy with it but Its here. Enjoy

/.../

Teor got to the bottom of the stairs and quickly rounded the corner, when she past Pebble she came face to face with the two unknown humans, the female looking human on the left simply went as white as the snow that blanketed the ground outside and the male on the right released a loud chuckle before he stood from his chair and walked around the table to stand directly in front of the Asari with his hand out and a grin so large on his face one would think it was about to split in two, a short duration later the man cleared his throat and said. "I am Charles Arthur Collins and it is an absolute joy and honour to meet yourself." The Asari looked to Pebble with a very confused looking face, the man had a very long name and she was not going to be able to repeat that any time soon. Pebble give a slight handshake gesture to the alien and then nodded her head towards the elder man, after the nod of reassurance Teor give an enthusiastic pincer shake to the human who delivered an equally enthusiastic shake back, just when Pebble thought the two were going to shake for eternity Arthur returned his hand and then proceeded to place his hands on her shoulders and say. "I have so many questions for you, first of all how many other species are there..."

"Dad."

"... Where have you been all this time..."

"Dad!"

"...How did you break FTL travel?..."

By this point Teor was looking to Pebble with a look of being lost, so to help out her alien friend out Pebble place her own hand on Charles shoulder and talked above his own voice. "Dad! she can't understand you, your simply scarring her." With his daughters comment Charles quickly released the Asari and spoke again.

"Oh, yes. I'm truly sorry"

Pebble released a small sigh, one problem solved, now onto her mother. Turning around to face her mother Pebble found that her mother was looking very briefly between herself and the alien and then her mouth would open slightly as if she was going to say something but before any words were formed she shut her mouth and simply continued looking. After another roll of her eyes Pebble turned to the Asari and said. "Teor..." She then gestured to her mother. "Lynda." When Lynda failed to speak or even make an attempt to respond, verbal or not Pebble spoke again. "Mother! this is Teor."

At hearing her name pronounced sharply by her daughter Lynda shook herself out of her shock, gulped and held her hand out while stuttering. "N-ni-nice to m-meet you." At seeing the human extending her hand towards her Teor looked to Pebble who smiled and nodded. With the humans encouragement the Asari extended her left hand to meet the humans and gripped her hand with the awkward pincer like grip she give Pebbles father and said. "Teor."

The elder human nodded her head and stuttered once more. "L-lynda"

Pebble released a deep breath, sofar so good. When her breath was released she spoke to the entire group. "Right, lets get a seat, i'll explain a few things, then we eat and after we see where the night takes us." Teor recognising the word 'seat' sat down opposite Lynda, preferring her more quite nature to the more boisterous Charles and allowed Pebble to sit opposite her bouncing on the chair father, when they were all sat Teor reached over and placed her hand on Pebble's bare arm, at seeing her fathers curiosity at the action Pebble said. "Currently, this is our only method of communication, she can do some weird skin contact talk thing."

The father stroked his tash. "So?"

"Pretty much, if you talk and she is holding my arm, because i can understand you she can, but she can't reply in English as she hears in Alien speak, just dont ask me how it works because I have no idea." When her father looked satisfied at the response she carried on. "Alright, so now you have been introduced I can say a little more, Teor is an Asari from Thessia, she crash landed here on a research mission and currently as she has no idea how to get home she is staying with me until she can do so. Kapeesh?"

As expected Charles had a question. "But you say you can communicate through it, can you say, ask questions or is it just what you hear she can understand and vise-versa?"

Pebble nodded. "Yes, but that requires a deeper 'meld' as she calls it."

Charles eyes light up with this answer and after a few more strokes of his overly stroked tash he spoke. "Can I try?"

After the question he saw Teors eyes change from human looking to dark black, it was creepy for both the parents to say the least, but after a second or so the colour drained and Pebble replied. "We think for now as we dont know the side effects to humans that we keep it to just myself and Teor." In truth it was Pebble who made the decision, Teor was willing but at the same time did not want to drain her mental resources responding to all the questions the elder human was more than likely to have.

After speaking Pebble's mother spoke. "Pebble honey, I'll check on the food."

While Lynda did so Pebble spoke again to her father. "Right, so what I need you to do is help translate or come up with a way we can do so, so that we can communicate through none meld means."

The father nodded and then picked up a cup of water on the table, pointed to it and said a few random words followed by. "What did I just say?"

Pebble and Teor both frowned at the same time before Teor Spoke. "Cup of Watar."

Charles shook his head and then stared at Teor. "I thought she didn't know english?"

To his comment Pebble replied. "She knows some terms, so some food names, bed, cup of water and some others that are vital for living here."

Charles nodded and then looked back to the cup. "well, I said cold drinkable liquid stored in a white ceramic cup, the problem is with translating a language like this is understanding how they comminicate, for example we would just say a cup of cold water but Teor here, could say something completely different but the end message is the same. Ontop of this She may have words we dont, for example in the German language there is a word, Backpfeifengesicht, which translates to, 'a face badly in need of a fist'. Translating words like these are virtually impossible without knowing that they exist prior. I'm Sorry pebble but translating is going to take more than me just trying to crack the language as if it was a code."

just as pebble was to ask a question she was interrupted by her mother speaking. "Foods done, Charles do you want to carve?"

Charles raised an eyebrow to this question. "What's on?"

"Pork, yorkshires, sausages with the bacon, roast spuds and the greens."

/.../

General Hopper walked down multiple long white corridors till he reached a heavy blast door, after entering his personnel identity code and another security code multiple locks were heard unlatching and the door slowly swung open, after he made his way inside the door closed behind him and the locks latched with a loud thump. walking another 5 meters forward Hopper came across a window that over looked a large construction hall, so large one could not see the far side due to the Earths curvature. Once he give the hall a quick survey from his position he approached a microphone that was on the left side of the window and said. "Doctor Newton Phosphor attend observatory 14 immediately." It was 21 minutes and 14 seconds before a tall, thin and scrawny out of breath scientist with dark wire like hair and glasses as thick as bottle of jam jars burst through the blast door, when he saw the General standing looking out the window he bent over and balanced himself on his knees in a vain effort to regain his breath. At hearing the man's heavy breathing the general allowed himself another minute of staring out the window before turing around to face the scientist. "Doctor Newton?"

The thin man stood from his knees and looked to the General while speaking between his breaths. "General... Newton... Sir."

The general straightened out his uniform before approaching the scientist. "I assume you have good news for me."

Newton released a heavy cough before nodding his head and saying. "The answer was... right below our nose the entire... time, it was Luke that spotted it but... it was right there." The general made no visible emotional response to this comment so the scientist continued. "The shard of metal is made... from the same element as our... Prometheus missiles, but because of how... highly secretive they are the spectroscopy results told... us it was an unknown element."

"So can you do it?"

Newton walked over to the side of the room and pulled up 8 different schematics. "We are currently building 8 satellites, I... don't know what your looking for but... if anything made... with the same element comes within 750,000km of... Earths atmosphere we will know."

Hopper walked over to give the schematics a closer inspection, after a grunt or two of satisfaction he spoke again. "When will they be ready for active service?"

Newton give the general a smile. "6 hours, then two hours to set them up."

"Excellent, Doctor, Now I've called you here to tell you that you and your team are being re-assigned."The Doctor had a face of pure disappointment, this project was his baby and he was willing to defend it as if it was his biological offspring.. "B-b-b to what? and why?"

"You and your team are to report to General Kastanie Drescher by 0915 for a debriefing, there your questions will be answered."

Newton started to scratch his finger nails as he thought. "Can you at least tell me what its about General?"

"Were breaching the final frontier Newton."

/.../

Teor sat in front of her food while holding her fork in the most awkward imaginable way, despite living on Earth for four days now this was the first time she used a one, all of the other food she had consumed so far required a spoon or just her fingers, after looking at how Charles and Pebble were using their own she quickly got the idea. The next confrontation she had to face was on her plate, the 3 slices of meat, while Pebble told her it was meat and she could have something more vegetarian friendly she denied it in favor of trying out the human culture, and the fact she did not want to be a burden to the human. So with a large gulp she stabbed the meat on the plate with the weird 3 pronged fork and began cutting away, when she cut a small slither off she dressed it with a few vegetables and yorkshire pudding, on Thessia this meal would raise a few eyebrows to say the least, it was very unusual to have such a mixture of foods all on one plate. After slight hesitation she raised the fork to her mouth and slipped the food inside, before chewing Teor took the opportunity to allow her tongue to simply taste the food and feel the texture, at first taste she was unsure as to if she liked it or not and the texture was a funny mix, some of it was slippery, other bits were rough and the meat was a little stringy and leather like yet it also felt tender, once satisfied she chewed till the point that no one food was distinguishable and then took a small moment to reflect on the taste, to her surprise in a mashed up state it was actually not so bad, after swallowing her food with a large gulp she decided to try different mixtures on the plate, find out what went together best and simply enjoy herself.

Once Teor eat as much as she could she looked up to the glass of red liquid on the table, bringing the drink up to her nose she was surprised by the overwhelming scent of what she guessed was fruits, she didn't know what it was but she knew it smelled sweet, so she quickly lowered it to her mouth and give it a small sample taste, as her nose correctly guessed it was in fact fruity and on the bonus side it tasted like Seri, a traditional Asari fruit drink that most Asari had with their breakfast. So with a slight smile on her face and the thirst caused by the salty pork she drank as much as she could, when finished she placed the glass back on the table to only then hear Charles and Pebble start laughing to one another. When Charles settled down he eventually manged to say. "Looks like this Asari has a taste for the wine." Pebble raised her eyebrows temporarily to this response while refilling the now empty glass. After pudding the four humanoids retreated to the living room, Charles sat on the sofa with Lynda and Russel, who was terrorising one of Charles boots inner soles, while Teor and Pebble dragged two seats in from the kitchen. Once they were comfy the four discussed in greater depths methods of communication they could try.

/.../

Tar for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Newton sat with his research team of 12 scientists in small conference room, at the front of the room there was a large white projector screen with nothing on it, as the seconds passed Newton became more and more nervous, the room was guarded by armed personnel, they were virtually strip searched just to get into the room and any electronic device on them was confiscated, what ever his team was getting involved with it was big. It was another nervous five minutes before a short plump General walked into the room, when he got to the front he loaded up the projector then turned to the scientists. "Any information learned in this room doesn't leave this room." Without waiting to find out if that was going to be a problem he carried on. "Ladies and Gentlemen, everything you thought about the peace treaty that was established 3 weeks back is not true." The general flicked some switch on a remote, all of a sudden the projector came to life and a grainy black and white image of a long object formed on the screen. "It's approximately 15 miles long and radiates energy as if it was an abundance. What ever this thing is, its the true reason why the treaty was formed." One of newtons newest team members stuck his hand up, to which the general stopped speaking and stared directly at him.

"Sir, no disrespect but I doubt we just dropped our weapons over this thing."

The General nodded then spoke again. "Correct." he flicked the remote again till another image came on the screen, this time it looked like a bunch of random sinusoidal waves. "Every time its energy spikes, SETI has discovered these signals using the voyager probe, now does this look like natural signal to you Doctor?" The doctor shook his head allowing the General to continue. "Well that's because they aren't. Now, whether by coincidence or Gods greater plan we had a close encounter of the third kind no more than five small days ago and this is what we got." With another flick of the remote an image of three dead aliens and one crashed shuttle came into focus, the horror in the mens face's varied, some had their mouths open, others were more tamed and sat as far back in their chair as they could and then the rare few actually sat forward to get a better look. "Roswell was a Hoax, the Alien autopsy was a hoax and the supposed trade deal with the President of the US of A was also, surprise surprise a hoax. Now what's not a hoax is this image." After flicking through a few more photo's the general said. "I've called this team here because we have one broken FTL engine and you are going to fix it, then you are going to fit it in a ship so we can visit this object at the far side of our solar system."

/.../

Pebble awoke with a groan, Russell was barking at the front door and it was still dark outside, although at this time in the year that did not necessarily mean it was early. With a grumble to herself at the dog she got up, let it outside to do its business and then slowly made her way back up the stairs when the dog came back inside, just as she was about to return to her room she heard a faint noise originate from Teors room, she was not sure but it sounded like a human sob. With a frown on her face Pebble tip-toed to the Aliens door, as she got closer the sobbing got slightly louder until it was clear that the alien was in fact sobbing, it amazed Pebble just how much this alien that evolved on a complete different planet, in a complete different solar system, was similar to humans, not just in mental and emotional traits but also physical. After careful deliberating over whether to knock on the door and attempt to consult the Asari or just to pretend like she heard nothing Pebble lightly knocked and then and popped her head through the crack in the partially open door. Teor was startled at hearing a knock on the door and out of reflex quickly turned to face the door. The second Teor turned around Pebble could see the blue blood shot eyes and the reflective strips of skin where tears had rolled down her face, at seeing the tears Pebble moved into the room, sat down next to the asari and rubbed her back in a circular motion, while hoping at the same time that what she was doing didn't mean something completely different in Asari terms. In truth Teor was glad the human had noticed her upset and sat down besides her and proceeded in an obvious attempt to comfort her. Leaning her head on the humans shoulder Teor slowly snaked a hand over to the humans free hand and gently took it into her grasp before looking to Pebble, with a small nod and a blink from the human Teor pulled the human with more strength than she wanted into a meld.

/.../

Pebble found herself sat on a beach after being pulled into the Asari's mind, looking around she found Teor sat next to herself looking out down the beach, following her line of sight Pebble could see 4 more Asari, two were adults and the other two were children; one looked no more than 7-8 years of age and the other possibly five at the oldest, they were all sat in the sand and building castles, giggling and talking as they did so. After a few silent moments passed Teor eventually said. "This is the happiest memory I have, I was on holiday with my entire family, there wasn't a single worry in the galaxy that I cared about, no work, no wars, no nothing. It was just me and my family enjoying our vacation."

After speaking there was another silence till Pebble said. "Which one are you?"

Teor hugged her knees before saying. "The elder child."

"So you must be about 8 possibly 7?"

This comment brought a slight smile to the Asari, the human tried to apply human logic to everything, not that she could blame her, it was less than a week ago that she thought her species were the sole intelligence in the universe. "19 actually."

The human was gob smacked, if she was that young looking at 19, how old was she now? "So how old are you?"

Teor stayed in silence as she thought about the question. "81." Pebble opened and closed her mouth, in a similar manner to her mother earlier the other day. When she eventually thought of her response Teor spoke again. "The wave crashes in 3... 2... 1..." Sure enough Pebble saw a large wave crash into the sand and the small family running away from the wash while giggling and laughing to one another.

Forgetting her original response Pebble replied. "So is that your sister."

"Yes."

Pebble rubbed her under jaw in thought. "Tell me about her."

Teor smiled at the thought. "she's six years younger than me, smart, joyful and a dancer. Right now she will be practicing for a play come new cycle, its just a small role but its still a role, she's talks about it nearly every day. Goddess you don't realise how much you enjoy some one's company till its taken away." After speaking the two sat in silence once more, just watching the family interact. Eventually Teor said. "How about yourself, your happiest moment?"

The human laid back in the sand, she was thinking of a happy memory but it was for all the wrong reasons. "To cut a long story short I was shot and paralysed from just above the waist down on my last mission, the happy moment comes two years later when an operation allowed me to walk again, it was that first step and wiggle of the toes when I was at my happiest, it was then I realised I was no longer dependent on others, I could go upstairs without the aid of others, walk Russell, go where my wheelchair couldn't. I regained my freedom. Anyhow, you were upset earlier?"

The Asari blinked before laying back in the sand also. "I'm missing home, my family, my friends. Even my work."

"Hmm, tell me more about your family."

The Asari released a deep breath, where to start. "Well, you know about my sister. My Father is another Asari, she's called Reas T'nook, an environmental engineer, 255 years of age but I rarely see her. My mother, Consta Am'ber, is what is known as a Matriach, I believe she is 832 years."

Pebble released a high pitched whiste. "Thats alot of candles on the birthday cake."

The Asari pushed herself up onto her elbows at this comment and looked at Pebble. "On a what?"

Pebble opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "On a birthday cake." Teor continued to give her a confused look. "You know, a fluffy sweet cake that you get every year on your birthday?" Teor continued to look perplexed. "Okay then, whens your birthday?"

There was some hand counting from the Asari before she replied. "2nd cycle, 43rd day."

"Your not used to answering anything like that are you?"

Teor shook her head, she was slowly getting more and more comfortable using the human gestures. "Asari can live for more than 1000 years, many Matriarchs don't know their birth date only birth year."

"Hmm, how many cycles is their in a human year?"

"7, why?"

Now it was pebbles turn to do some counting. "April the 13th. why? Because if your still here your getting a Birthday cake. Human tradition."

Teor laid back down in thought, after some silence she replied. "Then I look forward to it."

There was once again a small silence between the two, only waves could be heard. Eventually after some deep thought Pebble spoke up. "I've walked Russell on the same route multiple times every day for the past four days, sofar I haven't come across anyone. I believe it would be safe for you to join me if your wanting to."

Teor once again pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked down to the human in an attempt to see if she was lying or not, when she concluded she was being sincere she responded. "Are you sure?"

"Uh hu."

Teor didn't even think about the dangers involved as she answered. "Yes, That... that would be terrific."

Pebble released a slight smile before saying. "Right, I'll give you a shout before going, probably at first light."

/.../

Thanks for reading!


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